Wooden cased Gillettes

Just to keep this thread alive, I can now add my photos of my gold-plated Richwood wooden cased Gillette. The rarely seen No.81 set came in its original box & is in great condition -- and so classy! When I received the set, the top of the wooden case was coming apart, so I had to reconnect the joints. The joinery of this case (& most likely all the other Gillette made wooden cases) is made entirely without metal -- all joints being dovetail ones. Precision crafted...

Very, very nice....

Jake said:

Just to keep this thread alive, I can now add my photos of my gold-plated Richwood wooden cased Gillette. The rarely seen No.81 set came in its original box & is in great condition -- and so classy!

Click to expand...

those are really nice.. do you think the period owners put their razors away wet in these boxes?

I doubt the original owners -- at least of the sets I have -- put the razors into the wooden cases while the razor was wet. The cases are still in such great shape.

And also, when I received this set, the top of the wooden case was coming apart, so I had to reconnect & glue the joints. The joinery of this case (& most likely all the other Gillette made wooden cases) is made entirely without metal -- all joints being dovetail ones. Really precision crafted... Can you imagine a razor case now being made by hand with such care...

Very, very nice.

Mike

Jake, I'd like to see the back of the box where the hinges are. Are you able to post a pic of that?
Thanks.

I'll post the back of the case -- where the hinges are -- later this week. I need natural lighting yo shoot that photo. What in particular are you looking for?

I may be totally wrong, but wouldn't a wood box be a very good way to prevent corrosion? As long as you put the razor in the box fairly dry, wouldn't the wood absorb the moisture pretty quick?

This is assuming the box is already dry, and you dry it completely regularly.

Jake said:

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Jake, thanks for posting that eye candy! I would have loved to have lived during the time that those cased sets in their shippers were stacked on a shelf. But ironically, I probably wouldn't have appreciated it.

That razor looks fairly similar to my English made 2 piece NEW, or am I seeing things?

-jim

gearchow said:

...

That razor looks fairly similar to my English made 2 piece NEW, or am I seeing things?

-jim

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This is a fat handle 3-piece NEW (the #77 or #88 are thin handle 2-piece NEW). I´ve seen him only in this Richwood case.

Jake said:

Just to keep this thread alive, I can now add my photos of my gold-plated Richwood wooden cased Gillette. The rarely seen No.81 set came in its original box & is in great condition -- and so classy! When I received the set, the top of the wooden case was coming apart, so I had to reconnect the joints. The joinery of this case (& most likely all the other Gillette made wooden cases) is made entirely without metal -- all joints being dovetail ones. Precision crafted...

Click to expand...

Unless my eyes are deceiving me, these cases use Box Joints not Dovetails. In the photo below, the box joints are on the left and are straight with no angles, the dovetails are on the right.

View attachment 142635


With the right glue box joints are actually stronger in some respects to dovetails and much easier to do.

You are absolutely right! My error. Thanks for clearing that up...

Precision in construction & precision in description. I overlooked the difference, but the amazing thing to me, is not only that one of our members saw the discrepancy in my comments, but that these boxes were created by hand -- in the 1000s if not 10s of 1000s -- with a sense of quality, longevity, beauty, and aesthetics. Jewelery boxes are made that way now, but hardly by hand. And certainly not for an item that costs $10 or so.

Jake said:

I'll post the back of the case -- where the hinges are -- later this week. I need natural lighting yo shoot that photo. What in particular are you looking for?

Click to expand...

I am curious because frequently the back of these cases are not shown in photos either here or on ebay or on Mr-Razor's site. I'd like to see them...

FWIW, Cooncatbob was wondering a little over two years ago if people were interested in buying similar new boxes from him.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=66869

They truly are majestic pieces! Thanks for the pictures.

Here is an 1020's ad of the Gillette Big Fellow

Wow -- $5 to $75 for a New in the 20s.
$75 was a freakish amount of money to be paying for a razor back then.
Thanks for posting that.
-- Chet

I was asked to show the back sides of these wooden cases -- so here are 3 of my Gillette wooden cased razors -- in all their beauty and charm.

Someone posed the idea that it might work for the case to absorb moisture from the razor. Interesting theory -- might have worked but it wasn't mentioned in the manual.

The latches on the front look like they could be decorated to look like cartoon characters for a Gillette advertisement.

Thanks for posting those backsides Jake.